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The Son on DVD (2002)

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Average rating: (58%)
796121219201868
3.0
 
Starring: Olivier Gourmet | Morgan Marinne | Isabella Soupart
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne | Luc Dardenne
Studio: ARTIFICIAL EYE
Run time: 101 mins
Certificate: 12
User collections: good news for people who like bad news
Genres: Drama | World Cinema
Languages: French
Dubbed: Italian
Subtitles: Dutch, English, Italian
Released: 28/07/2003

Brief synopsis of The Son

Olivier, a carpenter who teaches his craft to teenagers become obsessed with a new student, Francis. The reason for his obsession soon becomes apparent...

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The Son
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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Belgian film-makers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne apply their uncompromising brand of social realism to the subject of masculine emotion in this unsettling account of a carpentry teacher's relationship with the teenager responsible for the death of his son. There's also an element of suspense in deciphering the nature of Olivier Gourmet's intentions towards student Morgan Marinne — is he looking for revenge or simply understanding? Aggressively employing a hand-held camera to reinforce Gourmet's superb portrayal of the bereaved man's fraught state, the Dardenne brothers explore the nature of pain, forgiveness and the notion of the redemptive dignity of labour, finally uncovering the potential for good in this most unprepossessing of settings.

Los Angeles Times

"There are few filmmakers today for whom moviemaking is as deeply moral an enterprise as it is for Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne....[A] powerful new film..."

Sight and Sound

"Cinematically speaking, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne are a modern-day miracle....THE SON weighs the balance of revenge and forgiveness..."

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 5 starsQuietly astounding

Kevin Daisley from Coatbridge, Scotland , 16/08/2004

This is a marvellous little film. Extremely spare with dialogue, it's a good film for sly looks and awkward silences. Both leads (older guy and younger guy) are very assured. The only thing is it seems to have this gay theme that is hardly explored but the ending, without wishing to give anything away, stays true to the subtle understatement of the preceeding 90 minutes. Get this one out, it really is a gem.

  9 out of 10 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 1 starsIntrigue to irritation

pad from London [Highly rated reviewer] , 13/03/2007

After about 15 minutes into the film, with the camera constantly following the central character from one room to the next, you are ever so slightly drawn in to what could be an intriguing film. However, as this film progresses, you end up becoming exasperated by this character and the way he behaves. The ending is also odd and I guess a trade mark of this director in its suddeness. By the end I was thoroughly annoyed and didn't enjoy it at all. I wouldn't bother.

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsAll should see it!!!

AngrySloucher from Norfolk , 06/10/2005

The directors of 'The Son' brothers Jeane-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, are together experienced documentarians. This is made explicitly clear in the film's style, which affords the camera the rare opportunity in modern cinema to see rather than show. The difference is immense. Renoir, Ozu and Rossellini understood the difference, and so do the Dardennes.

The Dardenne brothers are masters of exploding the minutiae of everyday life to beautiful, poetic proportions. Their films are largely concerned with observing people at work (see also Rosetta and La Promesse), obsessively detailing the structures and routines of the mundane. Hitchcock famously described film as life with the boring bits removed; a Dardenne film is life with the boring bits dissected, investigated and celebrated.

The film is about all the sons - the sons that were, the sons that are and the sons that will be - and all should see it.

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsrestrained, thoughtful, fantastic film..

dafadddu from the north will rise again , 21/04/2004

with one fantastic performance from Olivier Gourmet. With handheld and thoughtfully choreographed cinematography that blatantly avoids the obvious shots you'd expect. Spare to little dialogue - that allows the characters to breathe and exist believably. Superb.

  8 out of 9 people found this review helpful
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